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What do the LA fires mean for the county housing shortage?

Jan 10, 2025
Los Angeles has one of the lowest multifamily vacancy rates in the country. The fires will push rents even higher.
It takes most Californians at least two years to rebuild after a fire, according to a Redfin analysis. Above, the remains of townhomes destroyed by the fire in Altadena.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

As thousands flee LA fires, disaster poses unique challenges for the unhoused

Jan 10, 2025
There are roughly 75,000 people in Los Angeles experiencing homelessness, and those in the path of the fires face additional risks.
Evacuation shelters are filling with newly displaced people. Those shelters were already strained trying to provide for the area's unhoused populations.
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

As wildfires burn in Los Angeles, insurers brace for a potential financial disaster

Jan 9, 2025
The system is already strained by climate-induced disasters, says Wharton's Ben Keys. Homeowners across the state may bear some of the cost.
The number of structures destroyed by wildfires in Los Angeles continues to grow, racking up large obligations for insurers. The state is likely to be involved in the final accounting.
Apu Gomes/Getty Images

What would it take to make U.S. cities fireproof?

Jan 9, 2025
Devastation in LA and elsewhere has taught us what can help prevent catastrophes — more firefighters, improved water systems and mitigation.
One way to mitigate the effects of future wildfires? More firefighters.
Nick Ut/Getty Images

Cities can't be made fireproof, but they can be made fire-resilient

Jan 8, 2025
As the California blazes demonstrate, the concentration of homes in urban areas raises risks and costs.
"The more people you have concentrated in an area, the harder it is to make evacuations succeed quickly," said Roy Wright of the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety. Above, a home burns in the Pacific Palisades.
Eric Thayer/Getty Images

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California grapples with the cost of a year-round fire season

Jan 8, 2025
In the past 10 years, the state’s firefighting agency, Cal Fire, has seen its budget more than double to $3.7 billion.
Southern California wildfires have grown more frequent and costly over the last decade.
Apu Gomes/Getty Images